Two lay in his bed and stared at the ceiling while listening to the Merovingian and Persephone having an up roaring conversation outside the door. It had been a very hard fight, but the nurse at the doctor's office finally succeeded in giving Two the injection. Afterwards, Persephone brought Two, screaming and crying, back into his room. Now she was outside the bedroom door complaining to the Mero that all of it could have been easily avoided if he had just given the Twins' phasing powers back to them and allowed Two to phase and heal himself.
"How much longer are you going to hold their phasing powers from them?" Perse said at the top of her voice.
"Until they learn to obey and behave." The Mero answered in an equal voice. "I've been saying it now all this week. Is everyone deaf around here?"
"It's because of all this that Two got sick and had to have the shot." Perse came back.
"So I'm at fault here?" The Mero stepped back in alarm. "I'm to blame for all of zis?"
"Wouldn't you agree?" Perse crossed her arms. "If Two had been able to phase and heal himself, he wouldn't have had to go to the doctor, he wouldn't have had to get the shot, and you wouldn't have gotten stuck in the arm!"
The Mero huffed and turned away from Perse then stopped. As much as he hated to admit, his wife was right about it all. Everything could have been avoided if he had just returned the Twins' phasing. The Mero stood and stared while listening to Two's faint crying on the other side of the door. He sighed, turned and walked past Perse.
"Impossible man." Perse sighed to herself after the Mero left. "Sometimes I wonder why I ever married him."
Persephone opened up the bedroom door and walked into the Twins' room where poor little Two still lay in bed, softly crying into his pillow.
"Aw, come on, sweetie, everything's going to be ok." Perse picked up Two and held him close to her. Two wiped the tears from his eyes and sighed to himself, sniffing occasionally. One bounded into the room at that moment and jumped up on the bed.
"One, calm down." Perse said, as One roughly jostled the bed as he crawled across it.
"I don't want to go to the doctor anymore!" Two finally said in a pouting voice. "Doctors are mean."
"They aren't mean, Two." Perse smiled. "He was only trying to help you feel better."
"Make me feel better? How does sticking someone make them feel better?" Two stuck his thumb in his mouth and pressed his head next to Perse.
"I know what the both of you need." Perse changed the subject. Both Twins looked up at her. "You two need a bath."
"Bath?" One gasped before jumping off the bed and running toward the bedroom door.
"One, get back here!" Perse shouted to the little twin. One stopped and slowly turned to look at Perse.
"A bath isn't going to hurt you. Just think you'll get to play in the water."
"We hate water!" One shouted before running out into the hallway.
"C'mon, Two. Let's go get your brother and get into the bathroom!" Perse picked up Two.
"I don't want a bath!" Two screamed and started crying as Perse carried him out of the room and down the hall.
Moments later found Persephone dragging two screaming and pleading twins to the bathroom.
"No, Mummy, we don't want a bath!" Two and One whined together while trying to make it difficult for Persephone to push them into the bathroom, where they both knew a watery experience awaited them. Two grabbed onto the door facing and held on as tight as he could.
"For goodness' sake, it's not going to kill you!" Perse gritted her teeth and pulled on Two.
"We might drown!" Two shouted.
"I strongly doubt it. Now come on, let go!" Perse grabbed hold of Two's fingers and tried to pry them loose. One found this to be a good time to try and escape and ran past Perse, who was preoccupied with trying to get Two loose. Finally, Two gave up and let loose of the door. Kicking and screaming while Perse carried him over to the tub, Two squirmed out of his silver trench coat and tried running toward the door.
"Oh no you don't!" Perse jumped and tackled the small twin and wrapped him up in the bath rug. She looked around her and noticed that Two was the only twin she had in the bathroom. She sighed in frustration and picked Two up, rug and all. At that moment, the Merovingian stuck his head into the bathroom.
"How's it going in here?" he asked.
"Terrible! I'm short one twin. He must have run out when Two was latched to the door facing." Perse struggled to get Two's clothes off.
"You mean this twin?" The Mero pulled One out from behind him and shoved him into the bathroom. "I found him running for his life down the hall. Wasn't looking where he was going and slammed into me."
Perse glared at One then took him by the arm and pulled him over beside her, while still trying to get Two undressed.
"Close that door and lock it." Perse said to the Mero. After the door clicked, Perse let One go. The little twin ran over to the door and tried opening it, but it was no use.
"Two!" Perse shouted at the squirming bundle she held. Two stopped struggling and looked up into Perse's face. "Do you want a spanking?"
Two whimpered and frantically shook his head 'no'.
"Then stop behaving like that and let me get your clothes off."
Two stopped squirming and allowed Perse to undress him. First she took off his small waistcoat and then started unbuttoning his shirt.
"Take your thumb out of your mouth so I can get this sleeve off." Perse said while patting the hand that Two held up to his mouth. Two scowled distastefully, but obeyed. Perse proceeded to take Two's shirt off and immediately after, Two stuck his thumb, again, in his mouth.
It was a very hard fight, but Perse finally managed to undress both twins and put them into the tub of warm soapy water. Two and One looked at each other in disgust while eyeing the soap and water their so called 'mother' had placed them in. One lifted up his hand, allowing the water to drip off it.
"Eeeew! It's wet!" One cringed.
"It's supposed to be." Perse said.
"Why do we have to take a bath anyway?" Two looked longingly at Perse.
"Because your father refuses to give you back your phasing. Until he does, we've got to keep it where we can live with you." Perse chuckled.
The Twins looked back down at the water in complete disgust and sighed long and heavy. Perse walked over, bent down on her knees and grabbed One. After lathering the soap on the rag she held, Perse started to rub it over One's pale figure.
"Aw, come on. Don't look so glum." Perse playfully splashed a little water on One, who continued to look as disagreeable as possible.
"We don't like water!" was all One said, as Perse continued to soap him down.
After a few minutes of washing One, the bathroom door slowly came open and in walked the Merovingian.
"Perse, you're wanted on the phone." He said.
"Great." She replied while looking at her soapy hands. "Well, let me get my hands washed and I'll be right there. Will you watch the Twins until I come back?"
The Mero sighed.
"Yes, I suppose so." He finally gave in after looking long and hard at the two in the tub.
"Make sure they stay in the tub." Perse ordered before leaving the room.
The Mero looked over at the Twins once Perse was gone. Both of them silently eyed the Mero in return.
"Don't even think about anything." The Mero huffed before finding a seat on the edge of the Jacuzzi across the room.
Two and One both lifted their eyebrows at the Mero's words. One slowly and carefully reached out and grabbed hold of the bar of soap lying on the tub's side and picked it up. Not expecting it to be slippery, One jumped when the soap bar slipped from his hand and fell silently on the floor mat. His eyes quickly went up to the Mero, who, to his relief, wasn't looking in the Twins' direction at that moment. One turned to Two and pointed down to the floor. Two shrugged his shoulders and continued to eye the Mero in silence.
"Daddy." One finally said.
The Merovingian once again cringed at One calling him that.
"What do you want?" Mero sighed.
"The soap fell on the floor."
The Mero again sighed, then got up and walked over to the tub. He bent over picked up the soap and handed it to One. After returning to his seat on the Jacuzzi's side, he carefully eyed the Twins. One handed the soap bar to Two, who carefully took it. Without warning, the soap bar again slipped from the hands of the Twins, bounced off the side of the tub, and slid across the tiled floor. Both Twins exchanged glances then looked at the Mero, who was in the middle of a yawn.
"Daddy, Daddy!" Two suddenly started screaming.
"What is it now?" The Mero stood up.
"There's something in the water!"
One screamed and grabbed the side of the tub.
"I saw it too! It's under the soap bubbles!"
The Mero quickly and frantically ran over to the tub, but instead of finding his way there, he found his feet giving out from under him and his back hitting the floor. It took him a second to figure out what had happened. He sat up and rubbed his head. The Twins laughed and giggled until he started to get up. He moaned and caught sight of the bar of soap that had escaped the Twins a few minutes earlier and started grumbling in French. Crawling over to the tub, the Mero grabbed hold of the tub's side and struggled to stand up. He gave the Twins an evil look as he lifted himself to a standing position.
"NOW!" The Mero began. "Where is this thing you saw?"
"Right in there." Two pointed to an area of the tub.
The Mero rolled up his shirt sleeve and placed his hand down in the soapy water and cautiously felt around. After grabbing hold of something, he pulled it up.
"Is this your monster?" The Mero glared at the Twins while holding up the washcloth Perse had been washing One with. The Twins sheepishly smiled and cowered. The Mero violently threw the cloth back in the water, sending a spray of soap suds and water onto the floor and the Twins. With his hand dripping, the Mero made his way over to the sink.
The Twins soon found a new entertainment when they discovered the tub's water faucets. Two turned one of the handles and a stream of cold water came out of the faucet. One started turning the other one.
"Where is that woman?" The Mero grumbled to himself as he walked out into the hall for a few minutes then back into the bathroom.
"Daddy!" The Twins shouted at the same time. "We can't get the water to shut off!"
The Mero ran over to the side of the tub and started turning the handles in every direction, but no matter how he turned them the water continued to flow. Finally one of the handles gave way and came off into the Mero's hand.
"This is all I need!" The Mero shouted before going off in French. "Persephone!" He shouted. He quickly looked down and saw that the water was overflowing the bathtub and running onto the floor and his shoes. "Persephone!" He again shouted louder, stepping out of the way of the flowing water and shaking his shoes off.
Finally Persephone came into the room.
"What's going on in here? Why is water all over the floor?"
"Stop asking questions and help me turn this water off!" The Mero shouted. Perse ran over beside her husband and helped him turn the handles until the water quit flowing. Both of them sighed in relief then turned toward the Twins. The Twins looked at them silently.
"Who did this?" Perse asked the Mero.
All he did was point in the Twins' direction. After straightened up and walking over to the bathroom door, his shoes slopping on the wet floor, the Mero turned to Perse.
"After you get done with them, I want to see them for awhile." The Mero calmly said before turning and leaving.
Perse turned toward the Twins and sighed.
